Sele-healing tube



Jan. 29, 1924. 1,482,124

Vvx/.VFErl-ER SELF HEALING TUBE Filed July 16 i923 Patented den. l29 MZ@ armes WILLIAM FETTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SELF-HEALING: TUBE.

Application tiled July. 16, 1923. Serial No. 651,804.`

lTo all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Ferme, a,

citizen of the United States of America, re-

siding in the city of Baltimore, State of Maryland, have,v invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Healing Tubes,

of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a selt-healing in- I ner tube for pneumatib tires of the type in which puncture-healing plastic is enclosed Iwithin'a pocket in the tread portion or zone of the tube, the/plastic serving to heal the puncture byente'ing the opening found in the tube wall and hardening therein, either forming a plug or cementing the edges of the wound together, or both. -v

The present invention has particular reference .to a new arrangement of the pocket Vorpoclrets in the tread orouter puncturable walls of the tube.

ln' accordance with the invention, the pockets are formed on both sides of the tube wall, i. e.,- on the inside and on the outside thereozthe tube. wall being made of three thicknesses of rubber for this purpose; each pocket is of relatively small area and the pockets on the opposite sides overlap so that the entirev puncturable area is covered with pockets containing puncturehealing material. l Y

In telle preferred form, as shown, these pockets are circular in plan and those on each respectiveside of the tube wall are placed close together, the circles being substantially tangent to each other and the spaces between the circular pockets on one side are covered by the pockets on the other side 'of the tube wall, the pocketsl on one side being concentric with the spaces between the pockets on the other side.

In the accompanying drawing, i have shown an inner tube for a pneumatic tire,

embodying 'my invention in the preferred torni. lin the drawing:

Figure l 1s a transverse section through the tube.

Figureis a side view of a fragment of' 'the tube.

Figure 3' is a fragmentary section on the line 3, 3l ot Figure 1, the inside of the tube beyond the plane of the section also being v illustrated. fReferring to the drawing by numerals The tube as shown hasitetread walls 'formed of three layers of vulcanized rubber, l, 2 and 3. f

The outer layer, 1, of rubber is vulcanized or otherwise made integral with the middle portion, 2, certain areas being left free to form circular pockets, 4, placed close together, each pocket except on the edges of the puncture-healing 'portionI being substantially in contact with four other neigh boring pockets on the same side of the tube wall. These pockets are filled with puncture-healing material, 5. y

Between the center portion, 2, and the inner rtion, 3, lin show similar pockets similar y spaced buteach pocket, 6, on the inside overlies and is concentric witha space, 7,' between four outer pockets, 5, so

that the entire area of the'tube wall com' taining the pockets is protected.

The device of the invention has important advantages, including the fact that when badly punctured at any point, the

`entire content is not ejected as may happen terms herein are used `descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being deiined in the claims.'

What l claim and desire to secure by LettersilPatent is:

1. An inner tube for pneumatic tires having the tread yzone thereof provided with small pockets, some on the inner side ot the tube wallL and others on the outer surface of the same, self-healing material liing the pockets, the pockets on each sfide of the wall being so placed that they overlap, the pockets thus averla ped extending over the entire tread area o the tube.

2. An inner tube for pneumatic tires, the tread wall of said tube being formed of three sheets of denible material, superimposedone on the other, a series ot small pockets between the vouter sheet vandy the middle one, and a series ot pockets formed between the middle sheet of material and lGO `nie

lll@

'ny 1,482,124 y' the inner sheet, the pockets in one series Signed l'by me at' Baltimore, Maryland, overlying and covering the spaces between this eleventh day of July, 1923.

the pockets of the other series and s0 'that the combined pockets of the two series ex-v WILLIAM FETTER. A

l 5 tend over the entire tread area, 'and a quan- Witnesses tity of puncture-healing material in each PORTER H. FLAUTT, of said pockets. j v Em'zABETH Kmzcn. 

